Used for propelling Earth-orbiting satellites and deep-space robotic vehicles, the HET gets its name because it traps electrons with an intense radial magnetic field in an azimuthal Hall current moving around the circumference of an annular ceramic channel.

The 200-W, Hall effect thruster (HET) was built for under $2100. Plume characterization maps were generated to determine whether such a low cost HET can be used as a way to enter the HET research community.

This 12-kilowatt Hall thruster is the most powerful electric propulsion thruster in production, and it will be critical to future science and exploration missions at the Moon and beyond. The blue plume is a steady stream of ionized xenon gas ejected to produce low, highly efficient thrust.

Hall thrusters are able to accelerate their exhaust to speeds between 10 and 80 km/s (1,000–8,000 s specific impulse), with most models operating between 15 and 30 km/s. The thrust produced depends on the power level. Devices operating at 1.35 kW produce about 83 mN of thrust.